Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume9 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

Kamijou Touma staggered down the hospital hallway.

He couldn’t seem to gather his thoughts.

Misaka Mikoto’s question had hit him like a heavy blow to the head.

But that was likely a “right answer” Kamijou never could have reached on his own. It was a reasonable argument made from a different viewpoint. Mikoto only saw Anna Sprengel as the villain who had caused so much mayhem in Academy City around Christmas and infected Kamijou with deadly microbes.

A new year had begun and it was now January.

Those girls knew nothing of the Anna who he had rescued from her imprisonment(?) as a human film canister and who had fled from Mut Thebes with him in that mobile combat vehicle. They hadn’t seen the side of her that got excited in a discount store, got embarrassed and angry at being seen naked, and had developed an interest in Japanese candy.

The same was true of nearly everyone else in the world.

It wasn’t their fault since Anna had hid that side of herself.

But Kamijou knew.

She was not superhuman. She had trembled in tearful terror when Kingsford showed up and she had used a mobile combat vehicle to save the others from Mut Thebes even though it didn’t benefit her. She had the same emotions as anyone else and she had worked to conquer her fear and press on.

Just then, Kamijou spotted someone.

“Hey, Kami-yan. Back to check out the miniskirt nurses again? Or are you more into pajama girls?”

It was Aogami Pierce.

What was he doing here?

Kamijou Touma shuddered.

“Now I remember. Didn’t you end up hospitalized after grabbing a boobs mousepad you threw in the microwave so you could feel some human warmth in midwinter? But wait…does that mean you’ve been in here all this time!? It’s the new year!! There are new rules now!!”

“Nah. I was so sick of the bland hospital food I decided to celebrate my release with a trip to Ramen Niro, but it was too great a shock to my system and it sent me right back here.”

“Ehh!? High school boys have such big appetites we’ll choose a restaurant just because it advertises a free large serving of rice with its meals, but you still managed to eat so much salt and fat they had to call an ambulance!? How ridiculous have the extra-large bowls of fatty pork ramen gotten!?”

“Heh. Kami-yan, there is nothing ridiculous about it. They couldn’t be more serious about their food. …Just as you couldn’t make a historically bad video game if you tried, food this shit is a godlike feat that can only be achieved with the kind of miraculous balance only found in someone trying their best.”

“Don’t call it shit. Not when we’re talking about food.”

“What has you all depressed? It’s January 5. New Year’s might be over, but our winter break is still going. What, are you sad because you missed seeing the giant kagami mochi they had in the lobby?”

Of course not.

Kamijou tried to say so, but the words refused to leave his mouth.

After being hospitalized so many times after his deadly battles, he had learned that hospitals tended to play these things up. What might seem like just another seasonal event to Kamijou could seem far more important to a patient who feared they might not be around to celebrate the following year.

That was the kind of place Christian Rosencreutz was approaching.

He chaotically spread very real death.

Even now, he was only doing it for fun. So who was really putting these people at risk: him or Kamijou?

“What if?”

Kamijou knew this was the wrong person to ask, but the words spilled out in front of his classmate.

Or maybe he could only say it because this was a friend.

“What if someone would get hurt whether you did the right thing or not? What would you choose to do then? Would you still go with the right thing? Would you choose whatever let you save the most people? There must be countless ways to make the choice.”

“That’s an easy one. I’d choose whatever put a smile on a cute girl’s face.”

Aogami Pierce didn’t even need to think about it.

But he wasn’t just giving a joke answer either.

He looked Kamijou in the eye, showing he was deadly serious.

“All that stuff about good and evil is too much for me to wrap my head around. It’s not like we even have any way of figuring out ''if our definitions of good and evil are even accurate''. So all I can do is see if the person in front of me speaks to my moe-loving heart. If I don’t want to see their story get canceled prematurely, then I’ll support them even if it means risking my life. Who cares about the ranking lists or how many stars it has? If I think something’s the best, then it’s the best thing in the world. Isn’t that the one and only tenet of the otaku faith?”

“…”

Kamijou Touma’s breath caught in his throat.

Yes.

Why did he need some great hero’s permission to save the person in front of him?

It wasn’t like he had an important position or was responsible for anything.

''Wasn’t he no more than the kind of high school boy you can find anywhere?

“Is something wrong, Kami-yan?”

“No, it’s just that you told me something I really needed to hear. Just like with Misaka, I’m realizing how important it is to hear from people with a different viewpoint.”

Kamijou scratches his head bashfully.

But then something spilled from his coat pocket.

The flat plastic package was a video game case with the title printed clearly on the front: Jiggly☆Witch Trial.

Aogami Pierce was struck by lightning.

Kamijou could tell this had been a serious error.

“Kami-yan…that’s the legendary game that costs a fortune at online auctions and even the OLED system revival version has to be locked in a glass showcase at used game stores…”

“No, no, no!! D-dammit, Anna Sprengel. Did she sneak this into the cart back at the discount store!? How is she still ruining my life when she’s in a freaking coma!?”

“Heh. I have a gift to help you with your newfound excellent taste. The legendary original versions of JWT2 and JWT+!!”

“You mean this niche game had multiple sequels? Ahhhh, Aradia is watching from around the corner of the hallway. And I really don’t like the terrifying way her eyes are shining!!”